making sense of loose coffeeshop talk, political analyses and comments

How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no

responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Career options

I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

IT security checks had to rely on a person's name

"I spent an hour and a half talking to AppleCare. One of the reasons it took me so long to get anything resolved with Apple during my initial phone call was because I couldn’t answer the security questions it had on file for me. It turned out there’s a good reason for that. Perhaps an hour or so into the call, the Apple representative on the line said “Mr. Herman, I….”

“Wait. What did you call me?”

“Mr. Herman?”

“My name is Honan.”

Often, before we are allowed to post our comments, we are asked by website admin to prove we are not robots by having to type what we could decipher from random display of alphanumeric code. Well, the above example has proven how important it is to rely on the human factor. In this case of hacking, someone had assumed the identity of the user and changed his passwords and security checks which made the genuine user unable to prove he was the original user!

"In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook..."

"But what happened to me exposes vital security flaws in several customer service systems, most notably Apple’s and Amazon’s. Apple tech support gave the hackers access to my iCloud account. Amazon tech support gave them the ability to see a piece of information — a partial credit card number — that Apple used to release information. In short, the very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. The disconnect exposes flaws in data management policies endemic to the entire technology industry, and points to a looming nightmare as we enter the era of cloud computing and connected devices..."

"At 4:33 p.m., according to Apple’s tech support records, someone called AppleCare claiming to be me. Apple says the caller reported that he couldn’t get into his .Me e-mail — which, of course was my .Me e-mail."

"In response, Apple issued a temporary password. It did this despite the caller’s inability to answer security questions I had set up. And it did this after the hacker supplied only two pieces of information that anyone with an internet connection and a phone can discover."

"At 4:50 p.m., a password reset confirmation arrived in my inbox. I don’t really use my .Me e-mail, and rarely check it. But even if I did, I might not have noticed the message because the hackers immediately sent it to the trash. They then were able to follow the link in that e-mail to permanently reset my AppleID password..."

"At 5:02 p.m., they reset my Twitter password. At 5:00 they used iCloud’s “Find My” tool to remotely wipe my iPhone. At 5:01 they remotely wiped my iPad. At 5:05 they remotely wiped my MacBook. Around this same time, they deleted my Google account. At 5:10, I placed the call to AppleCare. At 5:12 the attackers posted a message to my account on Twitter taking credit for the hack."

"By wiping my MacBook and deleting my Google account, they now not only had the ability to control my account, but were able to prevent me from regaining access. And crazily, in ways that I don’t and never will understand, those deletions were just collateral damage. My MacBook data — including those irreplaceable pictures of my family, of my child’s first year and relatives who have now passed from this life — weren’t the target. Nor were the eight years of messages in my Gmail account. The target was always Twitter. My MacBook data was torched simply to prevent me from getting back in."

Shouldn't every Malaysian abide by this universal principle?

It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree which he himself stands by the country.

It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country.

It is unpatriotic to support him to the extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.

In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about him or anyone else.

- Theodore Roosevelt

Best prosecutor money can buy

Apparently he was paid only Rm1000! But it has been alleged he was paid privately by Najib a total sum of Rm9.5 millions! Shouldn't we be concerned about his money trails since? Now with new revelation, allegation that it could have been used to influence Anwar's Sodomy 2 trial cannot be easily dispelled or discounted. The unusual appointment of an Umno lawyer as lead prosecutor, which resulted in reversals of High Court's verdict in Anwar's favour, adds to the suspicion.

In case you didn't notice

"Do not be confused, the account is in my name, but it is not like a personal account," - Najib Tun Razak said in a TV3 interview on 1MDB.

Latest: "I took money for us to spend."

It became clear when the timing coincided with GE13. So was it a bought victory?

Now friends with a common enemy.

Forgiven but not forgotten.

legality

Are we in this situation now?

The only way BN can keep him away

Jailed again for sodomy... not political conspiracy?

We share her grief for the second time...

“I never thought I would go through this ordeal again”.

I came and there was no record...

I was blown up and there were 2 killers but no motive!

Umno wins 88 seats (from 79) at the expense of other coalition partners

Malaysia Boleh Perception Dictionary

Amman, Jordan

Kuala Lumpur

kosongcafe

LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Acronym

I have to live with my acronym, Kosong (Malay for Zero). Had I started with just 1 before accumulating the 0, I would have been a millionaire!

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Batu Gajah KTMB Station

A Monument of Development at the expense of Convenience a.k.a. White Elephant (for the first few years when it was built before service commenced. Since then, the train service proves to be convenient. So users have no choice but to use it despite its inconvenient location. That's why KTM can ignore our request for a stop at the old station.

A reminder of my Petition

Symbolic of residents' appeal and KTMB's 'Kami Tidak Mahu Balas'. Note KTM responded on Jan 5, 2010 - awaiting a study on the suggestion. This notice shall remain until something is done. 7th Anniversary of No Action yet. Arrogance of a monopolistic entity?

Link List

“Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said.” - Mark Twain

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

Wisdom of a Retiree

WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES; it takes away today's PEACE. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.

My Ong Badge...

Needs a Mansion to match

Wang

The Chinese character for king - 王- reveals a great deal about the nature of rulership: the three horizontal strokes represent heaven, humanity and earth, while the vertical stroke which holds the celestial, existential and terrestrial realms together and apart symbolizes the upright, honorable and noble qualities required to maintain balance and harmony on all levels. - Antares

Contributors

Be simple... it is not easy!

It’s easy to let your thoughts and worries complicate your life. But it takes great strength to be simple. - Monica Kupfer.

Politically correct, quotable quotes

"I am only one, But still I am one.I cannot do everything, But still I can do something;And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." - Edward Everett Hale

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. - Mahatma Gandhi

You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Think before you whine

Each day,before you say an unkind word - think of someone who can't speak;

before you complain about the taste of your food - think of someone who has nothing to eat;

before you complain about your husband or wife - think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion;

before whining about the distance you drive - think of someone who walks the same distance by foot;

and when you are tired and complain about your job - think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job;

before you complain about life - think of someone who went too early to heaven;

and when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - put a smile on your face and think: I'm glad I'm still alive and can move around!

Advice on relationships:

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment" Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes, it is better to be kind than to be right.

Don’t let someone become a priority in your life, when you are just an option in his or her life.

Always be yourself because the people who matter don't mind, and the ones who mind, don't matter.

A true friend is someone who says nice things behind your back.

Forget about the people in your past...They didn't make it to your future for a reason.

To the world you may be just one person; but to one person you may be the world.

Cause of problems with Mother-in-law:

Every mother hopes that her daughter will marry a better man than she did, and is convinced that her son will never find a wife as good as his father did!

Acknowledgement

Contents were from various sources, and some originals had been edited. My blog serves to inform and hopefully, entertain as well. Please consider it an honour if any of your materials had been used and that it was interesting enough to be shared, for which I am thankful. I apologize if there is unintended infringement of any copyright and would readily remove any materials upon request.